Great Stupa of Sanchi

The Great Stupa of Sanchi, in Madhya Pradesh, India, is the oldest and best preserved stone stupa on the Indian subcontinent, and the type site against which every later stupa's own harmika and torana are measured. Its dome is crowned by a harmika, the square railing at the summit enclosing the axis at the centre of the stupa's cosmological plan, and its surrounding railing is pierced by four elaborately carved gateway toranas, the best known early examples of the form, carved with narrative scenes from the Buddha's previous lives without ever showing the Buddha himself in human form. Sanchi is read as key evidence for the aniconic phase of early Buddhist art, in which the Buddha's presence was signalled by symbols such as the wheel, the tree and the empty seat rather than by a human figure.